Class, Clues, and Flawed Heroes: An Interview with Ravena Guron
An Agatha Christie fan from her early teens, and a writer since even before that, Ravena Guron has established a loyal following for her twisty, suspenseful YA murder mysteries, including This Book Kills and Mondays Are Murder. On publication of her latest book, Your Murder Next, Ravena spoke to Andrea Reece for Books for Keeps.
With a narrative packed with tension, secrets and sharp-witted observations, Your Murder Next introduces readers to a claustrophobic world where trust is a liability. For Ravena Guron, crafting a story about the fragility of teenage relationships and the relentless pursuit of justice was always her intention. She also set herself something of a challenge in the construction of her book.
As Your Murder Next keeps readers on the edge of their seats, Ravena’s original pitch for the novel flipped the traditional thriller completely on its head. Instead of wondering who the killer is, she envisioned a scenario that centers entirely on an unknown victim. ‘My idea for the book was this main character is walking through the woods and she is stopped by a boy with a gun who says, “I’ve killed one of your friends. You tell me who I’ve killed and why I’ve done it,”’ she explains. ‘I pitched it as a reverse murder mystery where we know the murderer, but we don’t know the victim. We know the murderer is saying, “I’m a murderer. Tell me who I’ve killed,” and those are the questions my character Myra has to work out, together with the readers.’
To achieve this, Ravena had to navigate a complex, non-linear structure – a process she admits made Your Muder Next her ‘hardest book to write’. To ensure the journey made sense, she had to completely separate her editing process. ‘I had to structure the plot two ways, to do it as the reader would be reading it, but then also as the main character’s experience. I needed to do two edits basically,’ she notes.
At the centre of the novel is Myra, who wants to be an investigative journalist. Ravena is keen to point out that Myra isn’t a flawless mastermind; rather, her appeal lies in her realistic imperfections. ‘My characters are not always the greatest detectives. It’s not something that comes naturally to them,’ she says of her main characters. ‘Myra, she wants to be a journalist, but she does recognise her own weaknesses. She’s not perfect and there is lots for her to learn. But the important thing is she keeps going regardless, knowing that she can do it one day’.
Myra’s focus on journalism and her reluctance to make friends at her new school are rooted in a complicated backstory with her friend, Leslie. For Ravena, creating characters who occupy moral gray areas is essential to good storytelling. ‘It’s that sense of I want to write flawed characters,’ she reflects. ‘I don’t think you could look at any of my characters and think, “Oh, they’re great all the time.” Sometimes they have really big flaws. For me, that makes them more interesting to write about and hopefully to read about.’
Beyond the immediate thrill of the plot, the novel serves as a striking exploration of class, privilege, and the lengths to which people will go to protect their social standing. Ravena utilises the inherent friction of class dynamics to dig into the dark motives of her characters. ‘Oftentimes you have these characters who do what they do because they don’t think of other people as their equals,’ Guron observes. ‘Coming at it from a lens of class, that’s a great mechanism to examine that angle.’
Drawing from her own professional background, Guron finds herself naturally returning to these societal structures in her writing. ‘My own experiences, when I went into law and even going to publishing, you have those conversations about diversity and background and who’s at the top of these industries. And for me, I can’t get away from them and that’s what I end up talking about in my books as well.’
With Your Murder Next, Ravena Guron delivers a masterclass in young adult suspense, proving that the ultimate satisfaction of a murder mystery lies in balancing a high-concept puzzle with deeply human, societal truths.
Andrea Reece is Managing Editor of Books for Keeps.
Your Murder Next by Ravena Guron is published by Usborne, 9781805075714, £9.99 pbk.
